Development of Teaching Sets Basing on Guidelines on STEM Education Integrated with the 7 Learning Steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the Topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students

Abstract

                       The  research  aimed  to  : (1) develop  teaching  sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students to meet the 80/80 efficiency criterion; (2) study the effectiveness index of the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students; (3) compare the learning achievements before and after learning using the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students; (4) study the analytical thinking ability of Mathayom Suksa 4 Students before and after learning using the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students; (5) study the students’ satisfaction with learning using the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer. The sample comprised 32 Mathayom Suksa 4/1 Students of Suakokwittayasan School, Mahasarakham Provincial Administrative Organization in the 1^st semester of the academic year 2017, obtained through cluster random sampling, using the learning group as the sampling unit. The research instruments consisted of (1) 5 teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer, for 15 hours;  (2) a 4-choice learning achievement test on Polymer containing 30 questions with the difficulty (P) of 0.38 - 0.69, the discrimination (B) of 0.44 - 0.71 and  the total reliability of 0.85 ; (3) a 4-choice form to measure analytical thinking  ability containing 30 questions with the difficulty of  0.32 - 0.75, the discrimination of 0.25 - 0.67 and the total reliability of 0.83 ; and (4) a students’ satisfaction questionnaire containing 20 questions with the discrimination of 0.41 - 0.68  and  the total reliability of 0.85. The statistics employed in the research were percentage,  the  mean, standard deviation  and t-test (dependent  samples)  for hypothesis testing.

                       The results are as follows: (1)The efficiency of each teaching set basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students, which could meet the 80/80 efficiency criterion. (2)The effectiveness index of the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students was 0.6919 which indicates that the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer increased the students’ knowledge at 0.6919 or 69.19 percent. (3)The comparison of the Mathayom Suksa 4 Students’ learning achievements revealed that the average posttest score was higher than the average pretest score, with statistical significance at the .05 level. (4)The comparison of the Mathayom Suksa 4 Students’ average scores of analytical thinking revealed that the average posttest score was higher than the average pretest score, with statistical significance at the .05 level. (5) The grade 10 students’ overall satisfaction with learning using the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer was at a high level. When considered item by item, the 3 items with the highest average scores, ranked in descending order, are: the item with the highest score -instruction on using the teaching set was clear, easy to understand and convenient to be used by students independently; -the item with the score second to highest –the students had the ability to conclude relationships of the data correctly; and –learning with the teaching sets helped widen the students’ experiences and they can be applied in daily life.

                       In summary, the development of the teaching sets basing on guidelines on STEM education integrated with the 7 learning steps of the Learning Cycle (7E) on the topic of Polymer for Mathayom Suksa 4 Students which had been constructed and developed had suitable efficiency which can be used in organizing learning activities with quality. They helped the students in the group to help each other doing their work and creating good relationship in the group. All these resulted in higher learning achievements and students’ satisfaction at a high level.